Singapore - Singapore Exchange Ltd on Monday signed an agreement with the government of China's south-eastern coastal province of Fujian to promote the listing of Fujian companies on the Singapore market.

Twenty-one Fujian firms with a total market capitalization of 4.2 billion Singapore dollars (2.86 billion US dollars) are already listed on the Singapore Exchange.

Fujian's Development and Reform Commission Office agreed to provide guidance to companies that wish to list in Singapore and facilitate regulatory checks and approvals from Chinese authorities, the exchange said.

Yangon - Trade between Myanmar and China increased 60 per cent in the past fiscal year, ranking China the second-largest trading partner for the country after Thailand, news reports said Monday.

Trade between Myanmar and China reached 2.4 billion dollars for the year that ended March 31, compared with 1.5 billion the previous fiscal year, Myanmar's prime minister, General Thein Sein, said last week in Nanning, China at a summit between China and the Association of South-East Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member

Hong Kong - Like most things from the cradle to the grave in Hong Kong, it used to be simply a question of money. If you had it, then a bed in a maternity ward at a private hospital was yours. Hong Kong's birth rate was falling, and maternity care was very much a buyer's market.

But things have changed dramatically in the past five years. Now women opting to give birth in one of Hong Kong's private hospitals have to book their beds as soon as they discover they are pregnant, with some of the hospital's maternity units already fully booked until May.

Beijing - The death toll has risen to at least 22 with 45 people still missing after heavy rain caused several landslides in mountainous areas of southwestern China's Yunnan province, the government said Monday.

Torrential rain caused mud and rock to flow down valleys and hillsides in at least 13 counties of Yunnan over the past few days, affecting more than 411,000 people, the provincial Civil Affairs Department reported on its website.

At least 284 homes collapsed and more than 700 others were damaged with electricity and telecommunications cut off to several areas, the report said.

State media quoted officials as saying it was still too early to confirm the exact number of landslides in remote areas.

Taipei - Chinese negotiator Chen Unlin arrived in Taipei Monday for the highest-level talks between Taipei and Beijing in half a century.

Chen and his 74-member delegation arrived in a chartered Air China plane which landed at the Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei at 11:45 am.

The talks will begin at the Grand Hotel in Taipei Monday afternoon and last until Thursday.

Taipei - Beijing has agreed in principle to allow Taiwan airlines to fly over China to other countries, which will boost Taiwan airlines' international competitiveness, a newspaper reported Monday.

The Commercial Times, quoting an unnamed source, said that China has agreed in principle to approve Taiwan airlines' requests to fly over China's airspace en route to other countries, which will save time and fuel on flights to Europe.

If China grants the fly-over rights, or "first freedom rights," it could cut Taiwan airlines' routes to and from Europe by four hours.